Bulls Have Their Work Cut Out For Them | AM Briefing #819
AM BRIEFING
ES CHART | KEY LEVELS | SETUPS
ES Technical Analysis — AM Briefing 819 Timeline
Monday July 27, 2026
| TIME | CHAPTER |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Welcome ES MES Futures Traders |
| 0:27 | Scripture Of The Week Do not worry about tomorrow… sufficient for the day is its own. The mindset George opens the week with. |
| 0:50 | News Drivers And FOMC Wednesday Light data early, then the show is FOMC on Wednesday. Live streaming continues daily, unlocked Tuesday for members and non members alike. |
| 1:16 | A Stacked Earnings Week Microsoft and Meta report Wednesday. Apple and Amazon report Thursday. Quite a week in front of us. |
| 1:41 | Zoom Simulcast Invite The daily Zoom simulcast runs right here on YouTube. It is 59 dollars for the month to check us out before becoming a full member. |
| 1:55 | Tip Of The Day Bulls have their work cut out for them. Written the night before the open… and price answered fast. |
| 2:04 | Trader Games Recap George launched a weekend competition with two formats: Classic Charts replay and Recon 12 second reads. Scott won and takes a mystery prize. |
| 2:40 | Battle Plan Basics The squiggly lines are the Battle Plan… where to go long and short. Numbers are ordered by location, not importance. Click the number for the notes. |
| 4:30 | Strong Levels And Mapping Strong Levels are mapped every Sunday as the week's most important. The Battle Plan wraps around them. Take profit before the next level, hold the runner. |
| 5:46 | Trade Review From Last Week A look at last week's Battle Plan trades including a 100 plus point short. We tend to get one trade a week that runs 100 plus points. |
| 6:32 | The Overnight 66 Point Gap An overnight gap up jumped over the Battle Plan longs and ran to the Bull Bear Line target near 7505 to 7516. George would treat it as an add on, not a chase. |
| 7:44 | Chart Read — Battle Plan 1 Zoomed out on the 30 minute chart. We are up at Battle Plan 1 having jumped the others. Nothing to really do at this extension. |
| 8:22 | Above Previous Day High Price sits well above the previous day high with an upward slanting VWAP. Not bearish. Already 50 percent of the way to the expected range. |
| 9:13 | Bull Bear Line And Fair Value Gap George leans long above the Bull Bear Line. A fair value gap under it got tested. The Strong Range gets mapped together 15 minutes before the open. |
| 9:41 | The System — Build A Trader Fewer higher quality pre planned trades, risk first 3-Contract System entries, hold a runner, and do the hard work of journaling and brutal self honesty. |
MES MICROS TRADE PLAN
Bulls Have Their Work Cut Out For Them
Posted: Monday July 27, 2026
The tip of the day was written the night before the open… Bulls have their work cut out for them. And then price answered it in one freaking swipe. A 66 point gap up jumped clean over the Battle Plan, ran to the Bull Bear Line target, and covered half the distance to the expected range before RTH even started. This is your ES futures morning briefing for a big week… FOMC lands Wednesday, and Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Amazon all report. The lesson George keeps circling back to today is location. When the market skips your levels, you do not chase. You Stand Down, you wait for the reclaim, and you trade the first fresh level price actually gives you.
THE OVERNIGHT GAP THAT JUMPED THE BATTLE PLAN
Overnight the market ripped a 66 point gap up. Count the height of that candle and it basically leaped over every Battle Plan long George had mapped. He had offered two suggestions of where he thought entries could live. He was thinking marathon trade location… he wanted a gap DOWN into there, not a gap up.
The runner still worked for anyone positioned. The target sat at the 7505 to 7516 zone, which George considers the Bull Bear Line. Price made it to target. Clean.
- The A+ version: an initial entry riding a string of fair value gapping candles, a 50 to 60 point move.
- What George would actually prefer: treat that spot as an ADD ON location, not an initial chase.
Because when price has already run and there is nothing left at your mapped levels, the honest read is simple. There was nothing to do. It made for a short trading night… and that is fine.
Trader Lesson 1
When a gap jumps clean over your Battle Plan, do not chase the initial entry. Treat that level as an add on… or Stand Down. A skipped setup is not a missed trade.
BATTLE PLAN BASICS — LEVELS BY LOCATION
Monday means back to basics, because the Battle Plan is a large foundation of what we do. Those squiggly lines on the chart ARE the Battle Plan… where we are looking to get long, where we are looking to go short. It is a TradingView indicator, and with the Chrome extension you click the number to pull the notes for that exact trade.
Here is the part traders get backwards. The Battle Plan numbers are ordered by LOCATION, not importance. Number one is simply first by price. Two, three, four, five follow by where they sit. You trade the one price reaches.
- Strong Levels: mapped every Sunday. What George believes are the most important levels for the week, loaded on their own TradingView indicator.
- The combination: Battle Plan mapping wrapped around the Strong Levels. That is the picture you trade from.
- The mechanics: wait for price to reach the area, look long, take profit before the next Strong Level because you typically bounce there, move your stop to break even, and hold that lotto runner in case price keeps going north.
Trader Lesson 2
Battle Plan numbers rank by LOCATION, not conviction. Number one just means first by price. Trade the level price actually reaches, take profit before the next Strong Level, then hold the runner.
THE TAPE RIGHT NOW — ABOVE PREVIOUS DAY HIGH
Zoom out on the 30 minute chart. We are on Battle Plan 1, having jumped over all the other Battle Plans, so there is nothing to really do up at this extension in George's opinion. Then look at where price sits… well above the previous day high with an upward slanting VWAP. NQ and ES are almost back at the previous day high.
Is this bearish? No. The Bulls had their work cut out for them, and they did it in one swipe. We have already covered 50 percent of the distance to the expected range. And George notes how shocking it is how often that happens on a Monday, or even a Sunday.
THE BULL BEAR LINE AND THE FAIR VALUE GAP
George marks the Bull Bear Line as the dividing level. Going up in this direction, he leans more long. He is not leaning short going up… that is just where he believes the Bull Bear Line sits. That does NOT mean shorts do not exist.
There is a fair value gap under the Bull Bear Line. Price came back and tested it. What happens at this Strong Range is the open question, and it is exactly what the room maps together 15 minutes before the market opens. That is the value of trading the same chart, live, with a group looking for the same trades.
THE SYSTEM — BUILD A TRADER
George ran the whole system fast to close. The framework is built on taking fewer, higher quality, pre planned, well thought out trades. To George, that is the Battle Plan.
- Risk first focus: laser tight entries with the 3-Contract System. That is Core Strategy.
- Play perfect chance: hold a runner to capture the big move.
- The hard part: journaling your progress every day.
- Refining your trade plan: that requires extra work.
- Analyzing your behavioral patterns: that requires brutal honesty.
- Scrutinizing performance and trading the same process daily: easier when everyone in the group trades the same chart, hunting the same setups.
- Exhibiting perfect patience: and you become the trader you are meant to be.
Trader Lesson 3
The edge is not on the chart… it is in the work. Journaling, refining your plan, and analyzing your own behavior with brutal honesty is the part that separates traders. That is where patience gets built.
THE WEEK AHEAD AND TRADER GAMES
News drivers are light early, then the show is Wednesday with FOMC. And the earnings are stacked… Wednesday brings Microsoft and Meta, Thursday brings Apple and Amazon. Quite a week in front of us. The Zoom simulcast runs right here on YouTube every day, unlocked Tuesday for everybody, members and non members welcome to join and trade. It is 59 dollars a person to check us out for the month.
Over the weekend George launched Trader Games… a Saturday to Sunday competition. Two formats: Classic Charts, where you trade it as it happened in replay mode, as realistic as training gets. And Recon, where you see the chart for 12 seconds, then you trade it. Scott was the big winner and gets a mystery prize shipped to his door. You had to play BOTH games to make the scoreboard. George learned a lot of lessons from it and folded them into this coming week's member competition.
"The Bulls have their work cut out for them… did they just do it in one freaking swipe? Amazing."
COMMON QUESTIONS FOR ES FUTURES TRADERS
Should I chase an ES futures gap up that jumped over my Battle Plan?
A: No. When an overnight gap runs past your mapped Battle Plan longs, the initial entry has already left. George treats that spot as a possible add on location, not a fresh chase, and is fully willing to Stand Down. A skipped setup costs you nothing… a chased one costs you your location.
How are the Battle Plan numbers ordered?
A: By location, not importance. Number one is simply the first level by price, then two, three, four, and so on in the order price would reach them. You trade the level price actually arrives at, not the one with the lowest number.
What is the difference between the Battle Plan and Strong Levels?
A: Strong Levels are the levels George maps every Sunday as the most important for the week, loaded on their own TradingView indicator. The Battle Plan is the mapping of specific long and short trades wrapped around those Strong Levels. Combined, they give you the full picture to trade from.
What is the Bull Bear Line?
A: It is the key dividing level between bullish and bearish bias. Above it and moving up, George leans more long. It does not mean shorts stop existing… it means the higher probability direction favors the Bulls while price holds above it. In today's tape George placed it around the 7505 to 7516 zone.
What is a lotto runner and why hold it?
A: A lotto runner is a speculative extended piece of your position you keep after taking profits at the level. You take your planned profit before the next Strong Level, move your stop to break even, and let the runner ride in case price keeps going. Risk is now zero on that piece… the upside is open.
What are fair value gapping candles?
A: A fair value gap is an imbalance zone left between two non overlapping candles. When you get a string of them stacking in your direction, it signals strong one sided momentum. Overnight that string carried a 50 to 60 point move, which is why George flagged it as a potential initial entry riding the strength.
What is the expected range and why does 50 percent matter?
A: The expected range is the projected distance price is likely to travel for the session. When the market has already covered 50 percent of that range before RTH opens, much of the move is spent. That is your cue to respect the levels already in front of you rather than chase the extension.
What is the 3-Contract System?
A: It is Micros Trader's Core Strategy position sizing framework. You enter with laser tight, risk first entries, take profit in pieces at the levels, and hold a runner for the big move. It is how you play perfect chance… banking Green Over Greed while still leaving room to capture an extended run.
Why does trading the same chart in a group help?
A: Trading the same process every day is easier when everyone around you is on the same chart hunting the same setups. It reinforces patience, sharpens journaling, and keeps your behavior honest. The room maps the Strong Range together 15 minutes before the open so nobody trades blind.
📅 Upcoming This Week
Hit the bell — every AM Briefing and live trading session this week is already scheduled on YouTube:
- Tuesday, Tue Jul 28: AM Briefing · Live Stream
- Wednesday, Wed Jul 29: AM Briefing · Live Stream
- Thursday, Thu Jul 30: AM Briefing · Live Stream
- Friday, Fri Jul 31: AM Briefing · Live Stream
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